Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:46 pm Post subject: CATASTASTROPHE! * Oil Gusher in the Gulf
Gulf Oil rig explodes, sinks
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.
A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Revelation 8
Asphalt volcanoes discovered in May 2004 !
BP knew 6 years ago! They want to scare us!
See page 18 on this thread
April 22, 2010
11 workers are missing and presumed dead after the worst oil rig disaster in almost a decade.
Swiss-based Transocean Ltd's Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22, two days after it exploded and caught fire while finishing a well for BP Plc
about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Blood Sacrifice To The Beast, a most critical 13-day period.
Fire sacrifice is required on April 19
April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire --
the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil).
This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children.
This day is one of the most important human sacrifice days, and as such, has had some very important historic events occur on this day.
The Meaning of Numbers
11. Imperfection, Disorder
The number 11 or multiple of 11 is considered an "occult signature."
Occult activities are "done by the numbers."
When initiates see these numbers associated with an incident, they immediately understand that one of their associates played a major role in its outcome.
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:11 am Post subject: Gulf Oil rig explodes, sinks, major oil spill
Gulf Oil rig explodes, sinks, major oil spill
April 22, 2010 NEW ORLEANS
11 still missing after a BP oil rig exploded, caught fire and then sank 36 hours later,
resulting in a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.
They're assuming all those men who were on the platform are dead.
The oil rig that exploded, caught fire and then sank 36 hours later could lead to a major oil spill, officials said Thursday, and as a result a remotely operated vehicle is surveying the seas and assets ranging from aircraft to containment booms are ready to be deployed.
At a press conference, the officials also said hope was running out for 11 workers still missing after the blast Tuesday night off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard said its search would probably continue into early Friday.
Officials had previously said the environmental damage appeared minimal, but new challenges have arisen now that the platform has sunk.
The well could be spilling up to 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day, the Coast Guard said, and the rig carried 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
Crude from the well had been burning off but when the rig sank earlier Thursday the fire was extinguished. What's not clear is if the crude is still spewing below the surface.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said crews saw a one mile by five mile sheen of what appeared to be a crude oil mix on the surface of the water.
Boats that skim oil from the top of water are working in the area, she said.
Landry did not have an estimate for when videotape from the remotely operated vehicle would be available to show if crude was spilling from the wellhead.
But the National Ocean Service's Office of Response and Restoration, which deals with oil spills, said it believes "crude oil and natural gas are being released uncontrolled from the riser pipe of the well," adding that "three attempts to shut-in the well have been unsuccessful."
Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator at the office, said any spill is not expected to come onshore for three to four days. "But if the winds were to change, it could come ashore more rapidly," he said.
The oil will do much less damage at sea than it would if it hits the shore, said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network. "If it gets landward, it could be a disaster in the making," Sarthou said.
At the worst-case figure of 336,000 gallons a day, it would take more than a month for the amount of crude oil spilled to equal the 11 million gallons spilled from the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound.
Oil giant BP, which was finishing an exploration well when the explosion happened, said it has mobilized four aircraft that can spread chemicals to break up the oil as well as 32 vessels, including a big storage barge, that can suck more than 171,000 barrels of oil a day from the surface.
17 workers brought to shore Wednesday suffered burns, broken legs and smoke inhalation. Four were critically injured.
About 100 others who were not hurt had made it to a supply boat after Tuesday night's explosion, then were plucked from the Gulf of Mexico by Coast Guard rescuers.
After a slow-moving trek across the waters, the workers finally made it ashore at Port Fourchon earlier Thursday where they were checked by doctors and brought to a hotel in suburban New Orleans to awaiting relatives.
"I've seen a lot of things, but I've never seen anything like that," said a visibly tired worker, who declined to give his name as he got in a car to leave.
The rig, where exploratory drilling was being done about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, exploded late Tuesday, sending workers scurrying for safety.
The rig is owned by Transocean Ltd. and was under contract to BP.
The 400-by-250-foot rig is roughly twice the size of a football field, according the Transocean's website.
A column of boiling black smoke rose hundreds of feet over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday as fireboats shot streams of water at the blaze.
Adrian Rose, vice president of Transocean, said the explosion appeared to be a blowout, in which natural gas or oil forces its way up a well pipe and smashes the equipment. But precisely what went wrong was under investigation.
Lawsuit filed
A total of 126 workers were aboard. Seventy-nine were Transocean workers, six were BP employees and 41 were contracted.
A lawsuit filed Thursday, claimed the companies involved in the blast were negligent.
The lawsuit was filed in New Orleans on behalf of a Mississippi man who worked on the rig and is one of 11 people still missing.
The lawsuit claims Shane Roshto, of Amite County, Miss., was thrown overboard in the explosion and is feared dead.
A Transocean spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and BP wouldn't discuss the suit.
Rose said the Deepwater Horizon crew had drilled the well to its final depth, more than 18,000 feet, and was cementing the steel casing at the time of the explosion.
"They did not have a lot of time to evacuate. This would have happened very rapidly," he said.
According to Transocean's website, the rig was built in 2001 in South Korea and is designed to operate in water up to 8,000 feet deep, drill 5½ miles down, and accommodate a crew of 130. It floats on pontoons and is moored to the sea floor by several large anchors.
Workers typically spend two weeks on the rig at a time, followed by two weeks off. Offshore oil workers typically earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year — more if they have special skills.
Working on offshore oil rigs is a dangerous job but has become safer in recent years thanks to improved training, safety systems and maintenance, said Joe Hurt, regional vice president for the International Association of Drilling Contractors.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36683314/ns/us_news-life
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Last edited by CJ on Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:48 am; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:15 am Post subject: Oil From Massive Gulf Spill Washing Ashore
Oil From Massive Gulf Spill Washing Ashore
April 30, 2010
Gulfport, MOUTH of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico was starting to ooze ashore, threatening migrating birds,
nesting pelicans and even river otters and mink along Louisiana's fragile islands and barrier marshes.
Crews in boats were patrolling coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said.
The leak from a blown-out well a mile underwater is five times bigger than first believed.
Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta late Thursday, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines.
Thicker oil was about five miles offshore. Officials have said they would do everything to keep the Mississippi River open to traffic.
The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez in scope.
It imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.
"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press about the spill. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."
Oil clumps seabirds' feathers, leaving them without insulation -- and when they preen, they swallow it. Prolonged contact with the skin can cause burns, said Nils Warnock, a spill recovery supervisor with the California Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the University of California. Oil swallowed by animals can cause anemia, hemorrhaging and other problems, said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center in California.
The spewing oil -- about 210,000 gallons a day -- comes from a well drilled by the rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in flames April 20 and sank two days later. BP PLC was operating the rig that was owned by Transocean Ltd. The Coast Guard is working with BP to deploy floating booms, skimmers and chemical dispersants, and set controlled fires to burn the oil off the water's surface.
Protective boom has been set out on Breton Island, where colonial species such as pelicans, gulls and skimmers nest, and at the sandy tips of the passes from the Mississippi River's birdfoot delta, said Robert Love, a state wildlife official.
The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among some in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Barack Obama dispatched Cabinet officials to deal with the crisis.
Cade Thomas, a fishing guide in Venice, worried that his livelihood will be destroyed. He said he did not know whether to blame the Coast Guard, the government or BP.
"They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels when I think they knew it was more. And they weren't proactive," he said. "As soon as it blew up, they should have started wrapping it with booms."
BP shares continued falling early Friday. Shares were down 2 percent in early trading on the London Stock Exchange, a day after dropping 7 percent in London. In New York on Thursday, BP shares fell $4.78 to close at $52.56, taking the fall in the company's market value to about $25 billion since the explosion.
Government officials said the well 40 miles offshore is spewing about 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, a day into the gulf.
At that rate, the spill could eclipse the worst oil spill in U.S. history -- the 11 million gallons that leaked from the grounded tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 -- in the three months it could take to drill a relief well and plug the gushing well 5,000 feet underwater on the sea floor. Ultimately, the spill could grow much larger than the Valdez because Gulf of Mexico wells tap deposits that hold many times more oil than a single tanker.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was focusing on national wildlife refuges on a chain of barrier islands.
"We're trying to go for the ones where the pelicans are nesting right now," said Tom McKenzie, the agency's regional spokesman, adding that about 900 were on North Breton.
About 34,000 birds have been counted in the national refuges most at risk, McKenzie said. Gulls, pelicans, roseate spoonbills, egrets, shore birds, terns and blue herons are in the path of the spill.
Mink and river otter also live in the delta and might eat oiled carcasses, Love said.
Bird rescuer Holcomb worked the Valdez disaster and was headed to Louisiana. He said some birds may avoid the oil spill, but others won't.
"These are experiences that the birds haven't encountered before," he said. "They might think it's seaweed. It's never harmed them before."
BP has requested more resources from the Defense Department, especially underwater equipment that might be better than what is commercially available. A BP executive said the corporation would "take help from anyone." That includes fishermen who could be hired to help deploy containment boom.
An emergency shrimping season was opened to allow shrimpers to scoop up their catch before it is fouled by oil.
This murky water and the oysters in it have provided a livelihood for three generations of Frank and Mitch Jurisich's family in Empire, La.
Now, on the open water just beyond the marshes, they can smell the oil that threatens everything they know and love.
"Just smelling it, it puts more of a sense of urgency, a sense of fear," Frank Jurisich said.
The brothers hope to get all the oysters they can sell before the oil washes ashore. They filled more than 100 burlap sacks Thursday and stopped to eat some oysters. "This might be our last day," Mitch Jurisich said.
Without the fishing industry, Frank Jurisich said the family "would be lost. This is who we are and what we do."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency so officials could begin preparing for the oil's impact. He also asked the federal government if he could call up 6,000 National Guard troops to help.
In Buras, La., where Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, the owner of the Black Velvet Oyster Bar & Grill couldn't keep his eyes off the television. News and weather shows were making projections that oil would soon inundate the coastal wetlands where his family has worked since the 1860s.
"A hurricane is like closing your bank account for a few days, but this here has the capacity to destroy our bank accounts," said Byron Marinovitch, 47.
"We're really disgusted," he added. "We don't believe anything coming out of BP's mouth."
Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.
-- Blood Sacrifice To The Beast, a most critical 13-day period. Fire sacrifice is required on April 19.
April 19 is the first day of the 13-day Satanic ritual day relating to fire -- the fire god, Baal, or Molech/Nimrod (the Sun God), also known as the Roman god, Saturn (Satan/Devil). This day is a major human sacrifice day, demanding fire sacrifice with an emphasis on children. This day is one of the most important human sacrifice days, and as such, has had some very important historic events occur on this day.
Remember, the Illuminati considers war to be a most propitious way to sacrifice, for it kills both children and adults.
Some of the very important historic dates that were staged according to this blood sacrifice day are:
(1). April 19, 1775 -- Battle of Lexington & Concord, which made the Masonic-led Revolutionary War inevitable
(2). April 19, 1943 -- After trapping the last Jewish Resistance Fighters in a storm drain in Warsaw, and holding them for several days, Nazi Storm Troopers began to pour fire into each end of the storm drain, using flame-throwers. They continued pouring the fire into the drain until all fighters were dead. Blood sacrifice brought about by a fiery conflagration.
(3) April 19, 1993 -- 50 years later, to the day, government troops, tanks, and other military equipment stormed the compound of David Koresh and his followers at Waco, Texas. Certainly, this operation fulfilled the basic requirements for a human sacrifice: trauma, fire, and young sacrificial victims.
(4) April 19, 1995 -- Oklahoma City bombing -- Once again, many young children were killed this day
April 19 of any year in the 20th Century is a day of fearful contemplation, for it seems that, as we head into the final stretch of time, Satan is becoming more and more bold, and is using April 19 more often.
d. April 30 - May 1
-- Beltaine Festival, also called "Walpurgis Night". This is the highest day on the Druidic Witch's Calendar, while May 1 is the Illuminati's second most sacred holiday. Human sacrifice is required. Since the celebration officially began the night before Beltaine, the tradition has developed among occultists to celebrate Beltaine as a 2-day ceremony. This tradition was strong enough that Adolf Hitler decided to kill himself on April 30 at 3:30pm, thus creating a "333" and placing his suicide sacrifice within the Beltaine time frame.
Great bonfires are lit on the Eve of Beltaine, April 30, in order to welcome the Earth Goddess. Participants hope to gain favor with this goddess so she will bless their families with procreative fertility. We find it interesting that the Royal House of Windsor lights a Beltaine "Balefire" every year ["America's Occult Holidays", Doc Marquis, p. 30]
The "Maypole" originated from the celebration of Beltaine. Since fertility is being asked of the Earth Goddess, the Maypole is the phallic symbol and the circular dance around the pole forms the circle that is symbolic of the female sex organ. Four six-foot alternating red and white ribbons were connected to the pole; the men would dance counterclockwise, while the ladies danced clockwise. The union of the intertwining red and white ribbons symbolized the act of copulation -- remember, this is a "fertility" celebration day!
To demonstrate their occult, Illuminist ties, Communists have always celebrated "May Day". If you have not been taught how the Illuminati created Communism, and for which purpose, you need to hear our Seminar 2, "America Determines The Flow of History".
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:31 pm Post subject: Blackout Over NKorean Torpedoing Gulf Oil Rig
US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig
Sorcha is a made up name and I do not guarantee anything she says. However, I thot I'd add it here
May 1, 2010 Sorcha
A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.
Most important to understand about this latest attack by North Korea against its South Korean enemy is that under the existing “laws of war” it was a permissible action as they remain in a state of war against each other due to South Korea’s refusal to sign the 1953 Armistice ending the Korean War.
To the attack itself, these reports continue, the North Korean “cargo vessel” Dai Hong Dan believed to be staffed by 17th Sniper Corps “suicide” troops left Cuba’s Empresa Terminales Mambisas de La Habana (Port of Havana) on April 18th whereupon it “severely deviated” from its intended course for Venezuela’s Puerto Cabello bringing it to within 209 kilometers (130 miles) of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform which was located 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of the US State of Louisiana where it launched an SSC Sang-o Class Mini Submarine (Yugo class) estimated to have an operational range of 321 kilometers (200 miles).
On the night of April 20th the North Korean Mini Submarine manned by these “suicidal” 17th Sniper Corps soldiers attacked the Deepwater Horizon with what are believed to be 2 incendiary torpedoes causing a massive explosion and resulting in 11 workers on this giant oil rig being killed outright. Barely 48 hours later, on April 22nd , this North Korean Mini Submarine committed its final atrocity by exploding itself directly beneath the Deepwater Horizon causing this $1 Billion oil rig to sink beneath the seas and marking 2010’s celebration of Earth Day with one of the largest environmental catastrophes our World has ever seen.
To the reason for North Korea attacking the Deepwater Horizon, these reports say, was to present US President Obama with an “impossible dilemma” prior to the opening of the United Nations Review Conference of the Parties to the Treat on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) set to begin May 3rd in New York.
This “impossible dilemma” facing Obama is indeed real as the decision he is faced with is either to allow the continuation of this massive oil leak catastrophe to continue for months, or immediately stop it by the only known and proven means possible, the detonation of a thermonuclear device.
Russian Navy atomic experts in these reports state that should Obama choose the “nuclear option” the most viable weapon at his disposal is the United States B83 (Mk-83) strategic thermonuclear bomb having a variable yield (Low Kiloton Range to 1,200 Kilotons) which with its 12 foot length and 18 inch diameter, and weighing just over 2,400 pounds, is readily able to be deployed and detonated by a remote controlled mini-sub.
Should Obama choose the “nuclear option” it appears that he would be supported by the International Court of Justice who on July 8, 1996 issued an advisory opinion on the use of nuclear weapons stating that they could not conclude definitively on these weapons use in “extreme circumstances” or “self defense”.
On the other hand, if Obama chooses the “nuclear option” it would leave the UN’s nuclear conference in shambles with every Nation in the World having oil rigs off their coasts demanding an equal right to atomic weapons to protect their environment from catastrophes too, including Iran.
To whatever decision Obama makes it remains a fact that with each passing hour this environmental catastrophe grows worse. And even though Obama has ordered military SWAT teams to protect other oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from any further attack, and further ordered that all drilling in the Gulf of Mexico be immediately stopped, this massive oil spill has already reached the shores of America and with high waves and more bad weather forecast the likelihood of it being stopped from destroying thousands of miles of US coastland and wildlife appears unstoppable.
And not just to the environmental catastrophe that is unfolding the only devastation to be wrecked upon the United States and South Korea by this North Korean attack as the economic liabilities associated with this disaster are estimated by these Russian reports to be between $500 Billion to $1.5 Trillion, and which only a declaration of this disaster being an “act of war” would free some the World’s largest corporations from bankruptcy.
Important to note too in all of these events was that this was the second attack by North Korea on its South Korean enemy, and US ally, in a month as we had reported on in our March 28th report titled “Obama Orders ‘Immediate Stand-down’ After Deadly North Korean Attack” and which to date neither the Americans or South Korea have retaliated for and giving one senior North Korean party leader the courage to openly state that the North Korean military took “gratifying revenge” on South Korea.
And for those believing that things couldn’t get worse, they couldn’t be more mistaken as new reports coming from Japanese military sources are stating that North Korea is preparing for new launches of its 1,300 kilometer (807 miles) intermediate range ballistic “Rodong” missile which Russian Space Forces experts state is able to “deploy and detonate” an atomic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device, and which if detonated high in the atmosphere could effectively destroy the American economy for years, if not decades, to come.
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1367.htm
Last edited by CJ on Fri Oct 29, 2010 6:00 am; edited 1 time in total
I Don't Buy It!
I don't think an oil platform would burn for two days before sinking if it had been hit with a torpedo. Sabotage, yes. Torpedo, no.
Remember that a South Korean navy ship, designed for warfare, was hit by a single torpedo. It was split in two, and immediately sank with men trapped inside.
Below the surface, a drilling platform is pontoons, ballast and anchors. Then you may have multiple drilling rigs, pipes and casings. Add to that a mixture of volatile oils and gases. I am aware of a massive fire in the vicinity of an oil rig, caused by simple static electricity from a serviceman's overalls. Three men died. What do you think a torpedo would accomplish in that kind of an environment? You would probably only have a burning debris field with an oil leak.
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:47 pm Post subject: I Agree!
I Agree!
I believe there was strategically planned detonations to destroy the safety valve, causing an uncontrolled spill.
They were already talking in the news that they want to control off shore drilling and stop it all together.
This administration hates all fossil fuels and I have my doubts that the oil rig and the coal mine explosions were accidents.
I'm sure this is only one facet of a multipurpose plan to take dictatorship control of this country's resources.
He is trying to regulate oil,coal, food, health care,the environment,the houses we live in, gun ownership, religion and every word we speak.
He is throwing this country in so much turmoil by his lawlessness, none of us are not feeling secure. As our borders are no longer protected and our right to defend ourselves diminish, what happens next?
Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 11:40 am Post subject: BP oil spill
BP oil spill
April 30, 2010 CNN
Venice, Louisiana
The federal government is heightening the pressure on BP, pushing the oil company to do more to stop well leaks gushing thousands of barrels of oil into the
Gulf of Mexico and to beef up its response to the potential environmental impact on the coast.
"We'll continue to urge BP to leverage additional assets," U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told reporters on Friday as the massive oil slick approached the Louisiana coast.
"It is time for BP to supplement their current mobilization as the slick of oil moves toward shore."
BP, which owns the ruptured well, said officials expect oil to reach land sometime Friday, with Venice and Port Fourchon the first places likely to be affected.
Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP, said the company has had only three priorities since the April 20 rig explosion that led to the oil spill: stop the flow of oil, minimize its impact and keep the public informed.
"We've so far mounted the largest response effort ever done in the world," Suttles said at the same news conference. "We've utilized every technology available, we've applied every resource request. ... We welcome every new idea and every offer of support."
BP has been trying to stop the flow by using remote-controlled submarines to activate a valve atop the well. But the valve, known as a blowout preventer, is not working.
A stopgap plan -- putting a chamber over the well area and sending the oil to a ship -- is unproven at that depth and could take four weeks before it's ready. The ultimate plan -- drilling a different well to access the first and close it with concrete -- could take three months. Meanwhile, efforts to contain the spill and stop the leak are costing the well's owners about $6 million per day, BP said.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Friday there is a chance that workers will be able to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but warned that the EPA is preparing for the worst.
"There is still the opportunity and the possibility that they would be able to shut it down," Jackson told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "Of course as responders we have to look at the worst case, and keep planning for that."
U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, called on BP and government officials to split their duties between stopping oil flow and cleaning up the spill.
"BP is spread too thin in trying to both cap the well and remediate the damage along the coastline, producing an inefficient and ineffective response," Vitter said in a statement Friday. "I urge all involved to allow BP to focus all of its efforts on building a dome and drilling a relief well at the source of the spill so that federal and state officials can focus their efforts on protecting and cleaning up the coast."
As fears rose -- particularly in the commercial fishing industry, a critical economic engine for the region -- President Obama promised steps to prevent a similar disaster in the future.
Speaking at the White House, the president said he had ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "to conduct a thorough review of this incident and report back to me in 30 days on what, if any, additional precautions and technologies should be required to prevent accidents like this from happening again."
"We're going to make sure that any leases going forward have those safeguards," he said.
Salazar has ordered inspections of all deep-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Department of Interior will also establish an Outer Continental Shelf Safety Board to conduct a review of offshore drilling practices and safety issues and tighten the oversight of equipment testing, Salazar said.
Salazar added that the response to the spill would not affect oil production. "Oil and gas production from Gulf Coast that fuels the economy continues to flow today and will continue to flow into the foreseeable future."
Federal officials, including the president, emphasized that BP is legally responsible for paying the costs of the response to and cleanup of the spill. Still, Obama said, "We are fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities."
Several top administration figures were dispatched to the region Friday, and thousands of federal personnel have joined efforts to help.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's request to mobilize 6,000 National Guard troops in response to the spill, according to a Defense Department spokesman.
The Guardsmen will be deployed under Title 32, which means the Defense Department will pay for their services for up to 90 days. Defense spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates approved the mobilization because "the president has declared this oil spill to be of national significance, impacting multiple states."
However, because the spill is BP's responsibility, "we do expect to be reimbursed," Morrell said. Gates is expecting such requests from other Gulf states and expects to approve those as well, he said.
Earlier in the day, two Air Force Reserve C-130s specially modified with a spray system arrived in the region to spread oil-dispersant chemicals.
Rough weather, including heavy winds and high tides, have hindered the effort, federal and BP officials said. Suttles said weather challenges would continue into the weekend, meaning water surface operations, such as oil skimming, would be suspended. Choppy waters can also drive the polluted water into the coastal marshlands and other ecosystems in southern Louisiana.
"The potential danger is unfathomable, because we don't yet know how the leak can be stopped and how big the spill will get," said Ken Rosenberg, director of conservation science at Cornell University. "It's a full moon, a high tide, and it's bringing the oil on a free ride right into the coastal salt marshes on a southerly wind."
Rosenberg said when the oil hits the shore, it would have an immediate impact on large numbers of birds, causing reproductive failure and possibly death.
"If the oil then comes into the coastal marshes and the inshore ecosystems and kills the oyster beds and the shrimp and the fish nurseries," he said, "then there are much longer-lasting effects not only on birds but on an entire way of life for people of this region."
Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida declared a state of emergency in several counties on Friday, saying the oil spill "threatens the state of Florida with a major disaster." Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declared a state of emergency in his state on Thursday.
Volunteers sought for oil spill threat
Some officials worried the destruction could surpass the Exxon Valdez disaster 20 years ago. That oil tanker ran aground on the Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil.
Friday, as people along the Louisiana coast caught a whiff of the oil, those in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida feared an environmental nightmare of greater scope.
"There's certainly immense potential consequences," LuAnn White, director of the Tulane Center for Applied Environmental Public Health, said Friday.
Wildlife threatened by oil spill
"This is a disaster," said Dean Blanchard, who runs a wholesale seafood business in the region. "We definitely need some help."
Biloxi, Mississippi, Mayor A.J. Holloway compared the potential economic impact of the spill to the downfall that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"That was a tremendous blow to our city for several years and still has an impact," he told CNN Radio. "We just don't know what we can expect from this."
Ten wildlife refuges in Mississippi and Louisiana are in the oil's expected path, with the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area at the tip of the Mississippi River likely to be the first affected, Jindal said.
Napolitano, Salazar and Jackson were among those who took an aerial tour over parts of the Louisiana area earlier in the day. They also met with government and BP officials to discuss cleanup efforts.
WWL-TV: Officials say coast's protection not enough
State and federal agencies have strung miles of floating booms -- inflatable or foam barriers -- around the leading edge of the shoreline to contain the spill.
A handful of federal agencies have recovered more than 20,200 barrels (850,000 gallons) of oily water and had deployed more than 100,000 gallons of dispersant -- which breaks up oil -- as of Thursday evening, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Efforts to shut down the well have failed so far, and more complicated plans may take weeks, officials said.
The oil rig, operated by Transocean Ltd., was ripped by an explosion that burned for two days until the rig sank. Eleven missing men are presumed dead. The Coast Guard on Wednesday raised its estimate of the amount of oil the damaged well was pouring into the Gulf to 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day -- five times more than initially believed.
When the rig sank, a steel riser that connected the rig to the well collapsed to the ocean floor, and eventually remote-operated submarines would find three leaks coming from the riser or a related drill pipe.
A test of burning off part of the oil slick destroyed about 100 barrels (4,200 gallons) Wednesday, said Suttles. The technique "clearly worked," and larger burns are planned when weather conditions make them possible.
"We believe we can now scale that up and burn between 500 and 1,000 barrels at a time," Suttles said at the time.
The well is now leaking from three points, BP said. Under the 1990 oil pollution act, passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill, the company is required to foot the bill for the cleanup.
BP said Thursday it has set up a "Vessel of Opportunity" program for vessel owners "to offer their services to assist with response efforts."
Lawsuits seeking class action status have been filed on behalf of the workers and their families. The suits accuse Transocean and BP of negligence.
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